Courtly letters in the age of Henry VIII : literary culture and the arts of deceit / Seth Lerer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lerer, Seth, 1955- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Renaissance literature and culture ; 18.

Cambridge studies in Renaissance literature and culture ; 18

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547--Relations with courts and courtiers.

Henry.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400. Troilus and Criseyde.

Chaucer, Geoffrey.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400--Influence.

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Politics and literature.

Civilization, Medieval, in literature.

Courts and courtiers in literature.

Deception in literature.

Renaissance--England.

Renaissance.

Great Britain--History--Henry VIII, 1509-1547--Historiography.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Court and courtiers--History--16th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 252 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This revisionary study of the origins of courtly poetry reveals the culture of spectatorship and voyeurism that shaped early Tudor English literary life. Through research into the reception of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, it demonstrates how Pandarus became the model of the early modern courtier. His blend of counsel, secrecy and eroticism informed the behaviour of poets, lovers, diplomats and even Henry VIII himself. In close readings of the poetry of Hawes and Skelton, the drama of the court, the letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, the writings of Thomas Wyatt, and manuscript anthologies and early printed books, Seth Lerer illuminates a 'Pandaric' world of displayed bodies, surreptitious letters and transgressive performances. In the process, he redraws the boundaries between the medieval and the Renaissance and illustrates the centrality of the verse epistle to the construction of subjectivity.

Contents:

1. Pretexts: Chaucer's Pandarus and the origins of courtly discourse

2. The King's Pandars: performing courtiership in the 1510s

3. The King's hand: body politics in the letters of Henry VIII

4. Private quotations, public memories: Troilus and Criseyde and the politics of the manuscript anthology

5. Wyatt, Chaucer, Tottel: the verse epistle and the subjects of the courtly lyric.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 208-248) and index.

ISBN:

0-511-58200-5

0-511-00082-0